Rough Rider & Bronco Invitationals
We had a “split squad” scenario this past weekend. Our top varsity runners got out of school for a day to travel down to Clovis for the Rough Rider Invitational, while most of our runners competed at Spring View Park for the local Bronco Invitational. The Bronco course is a preview of our SFL Championship event on the last Friday of October, while Rough Rider is set on the iconic state course at Woodwark Park.
Rough Rider Invitational
Normally I wouldn’t bore everyone with the mathematical goals I have for the team at certain checkpoints during the season, but our girls hit a significant benchmark in Clovis: Breaking the 101-minute total team time barrier, and going 1:40:49 … 11 seconds to the good! 🙂 Also importantly, every girl in our top 7 hit a lifetime PR, including our first sub-20min 5K runner in Grace Lathrop, going 19:44. There were about 40 teams in the large schools division, and our Lady Wildcats placed 3rd. Outstanding progress, ladies!
The guys were equally as successful. Our front five is close to achieving the fastest team time in Whitney history … something to shoot for in the remaining meets this season. Bennett Woodward broke 16 minutes for the first time ever to finish 12th overall and lead the men’s team. With Ethan and Austin, Whitney now has 3 runners under 16 minutes this season, something no other program in the entire section can claim. Sophomore Jason Finta continues to amaze, breaking 17 minutes and shoring up our front five scoring. Our guys placed 5th as a team.
Bronco Invitational
Whitney’s young squads and JV runners had a good showing against a lot of the area’s best programs. With several sophomore boys, as well as freshman and sophomore girls running in Clovis, our frosh soph squads were a bit depleted. But we still fielded two frosh soph boys teams: 1) frosh soph large schools, and 2) frosh soph unlimited. Our frosh soph large placed 7th, led by Malachai Amore finishing 8th individually. The “unlimited” race is for large programs like ours, and there were quite a few others in this meet. Our frosh soph unlimited placed 6th, with freshman Charlie Gioia crossing first for Whitney. The frosh soph girls were 8th in team scoring as Haley Bedrin and Emily Peterson led the way.
We had several Wildcats achieve a lifetime PR in the 5K at Bronco. Newcomer sophomore Ajani Salcido gained residency eligibility from his transfer just a couple days before the meet, so we were able to get him into a 5K where he ran an impressive 16:28. Other noteworthy PR’s … Sam Hernandez, Jared Regan, Peter Casinias, Christian Cunningham, Dean Sherman, and Emma Totaro. Congratulations everyone!